Aerolineas Argentinas canceled 68 flights and confirmed there will be no repatriation trip

Countries returning to total or partial isolation, the announcement of a second wave and the fear of more contagious variants of the coronavirus. One year after the proclamation of compulsory preventive social isolation (ASPO), the flight cancellations from and to Argentina. An anticipation that weeps for those who fear the entry of new strains of Covid-19.

This Thursday, from Aeropuertos Argentina 2000, they had predicted that the flight reductions would take effect in April. Did Administrative Decision 219/2021, released on March 13, establish that the National Directorate of Migration, the National Civil Aviation Administration (ANAC) and the Ministry of Health should determine flight times and number of passengers who would enter the country. But Aerolineas Argentinas and Latam have already started to cancel.

To date, 68 Aerolineas Argentinas flights have been suspended: 40 corresponding to March and 28 to April. Of those canceled this month, five left Ezeiza in recent days, bound for Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo and Florianópolis. One of them was actually going to leave this Saturday at 7:30 am. But that did not happen.

From the company, they explained that the passengers of these flights are relocated on other dates, or on the same day if this destination had more than one daily frequency.

The rest of Aerolineas Argentinas’ flights in March that were suspended were due to start between this Sunday and Wednesday 31, to the aforementioned Brazilian cities, as well as Santiago de Chile, Miami and Madrid.

These are the planes of Ezeiza in Rio de Janeiro on March 22, 27 and 29; at Saint Paul from 21, 23, 24, 26 and 30; in Florianópolis on the 24th and 31st; and to Santiago on 23, 25 and 30. The plane not having taken off, logically, the return flights planned for these same days were also canceled.

Neither the flight to Madrid this Sunday will leave Buenos Aires, nor the one that would go to Miami on Saturday 27. Even the plane from Madrid to Buenos Aires on Tuesday 23, and that from Miami to Buenos Aires on Sunday 28, was canceled.

For April there are more cancellations with date: 3, 5 and 11 to and from Rio de Janeiro; 6, 8 and 9 to and from San Pablo; 1, 6, 8 and 11 to and from Santiago de Chile; 2, 8 and 11 in Miami; and 7 in Madrid. In addition, the flights that would come from Miami on the 3rd, 9th and 12th, and the one arriving from Madrid on the 8th, have been suspended.

Latam is also already canceling flights since the start of this week: reduced its operations by 30% in Santiago de Chile, by 70% in São Paulo and by 30% in Lima. Thus, it went from ten to eight weekly frequencies in Santiago de Chile, from ten to seven in Lima, and from five to three in San Pablo.

With this program, Latam flies once a day to Lima and Santiago de Chile, a city that has additional frequency on Fridays. For San Pablo there are flights on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.

This is not the first step in this regard in recent weeks. Already on February 28 the frequency of flights between Argentina and Brazil had been cut in half. A restriction which was increased by 20% with the administrative decision 219.

In this resolution, the 30% reduction in frequencies to Mexico and Europe was maintained, and flights to Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Panama and Chile were reduced by 30%. In addition to the 20% increase in reduction in Brazil, an additional 10% was added to that of the United States, whose frequencies were already limited to 30%.

Today there are around 110,000 Argentines abroad, according to official data. Among them, 27,000 are tourists, that is to say they will have to return to the country in the weeks or months to come. The borders are still open but, in the event that the health situation becomes even more complicated, it will be the passengers themselves who will have to bear all the costs that the situation entails: sources of the National Directorate of Migration confirmed in Bugle What there will be no repatriation flights.

397,487 Argentines and residents were repatriated on special flights from March 13 to October 29, 2020. But from September 7, Argentines traveling abroad must complete an affidavit in which are responsible for the consequences of travel in the event of a pandemic.

The fact is that taking care of their return involves a significant cost for the government not only in terms of tickets, but also coordination and logistics, said the same sources. However, faced with a case of force majeure, the program of assistance to Argentines abroad continues to function.